Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Khalid Chraibi has written an insightful in-depth piece about the Saudi women driving issue. You can link to it here While the entire piece is too long to paste in, the abstract is below.

The King, the Mufti & the Facebook Girl: A Power Play. Who Decides What is Licit in Islam?

By Khalid Chraibi, published in CyberOrient, Vol. 5, Iss. 2, 2011

Abstract

Saudi Arabia enforces a ban on woman driving on the grounds that it is prohibited by sharia law. Women’s associations have actively denounced this ban for years, arguing that it was the only Muslim country which had such a peculiar interpretation of Islamic law. A power play is taking place online on this subject between the ulema (who support the ban), the Saudi authorities and feminine associations. This situation raises the question: “Who decides what is licit or illicit in Islam?” Muslim women’s associations merely ask for the implementation in Muslim countries of the “best practices” in Islamic law which exist anywhere, as a substitute for those laws which are unfavorable to women’s rights or do not protect their interests adequately.

"It is human beings (with all their frailties) who interpret the sharia"
Ali ibn Abi Talib

"Women in Saudi Arabia: to drive or not drive? That is not the question.
The question is: When?"
Somayya Jabarti (2011)

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

This profile of Saudi activist for women's rights and women driving Samar Badawi was translated from the German publication, Die Welt. A link to the English version, from World Crunch, is here. Text pasted below.

Saudi Arabia: The Courage Of One Woman Speaks For An Entire Nation

Samar Badawi was one of several women just honored at the International Women of Courage Awards. But her personal courage has been displayed in her native Saudi Arabia, potentially the most misogynist country in the world.

by: adminSamar Badawi between Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton at the 2012 International Women of Courage Awards (State Dept)

Samar Badawi looks a little forsaken on the big stage in Washington. Shyly, she listens to the noble words a world-famous figure is saying about her: “You are making a difference. And we thank you for that.” Then suddenly the small woman in black who hails from the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah is standing between Hillary Clinton and the world’s other most powerful woman, Michelle Obama.

Clinton’s words were part of the ceremony honoring those who won International Women of Courage Awards. Since 2007, ten women from around the world, selected from possible candidates whose names are sent in by U.S. embassies, are invited to Washington for the award ceremony. In 2012, other award winners came from Burma, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Colombia.

Each of these activists deserves an article like this one written about her: all the award-winners fight against discrimination, crime, corruption, and terror. But within this group of strong women, Samar Badawi is special because she manages to live – survive – in Saudi Arabia, which is probably the most misogynist country in the world.

Her life story is that of an oppressed woman treated sadistically, with every effort made to break her spirit, running headlong into the wall of Saudi society. She sued her own father – nothing short of a revolutionary act in country so corrupt, with its cronyism and nepotism, and so rigid, with its system of moral police and women watched over by guardians.

The 31-year-old divorced mother of a 10-year-old son has even sued the government in her fight for the right of women to vote and to drive cars. “Samar is a fighter, courageous and strong enough to take such a step. I take my hat off to her,” Saudi blogger and medical student Omaima al-Nadshar says.

To get some idea of the extreme pushback from Saudi men but also the elite that Badawi faces, a brief look into her daily life in this absolute monarchy is instructive. This is a country where every female, girl, teen, wife, grandmother, must have a male accompany her when she goes out in public. She cannot sit in a car without the guardian, go to a restaurant, much less on a trip.
A Saudi woman is dependent on a male guardian – father, husband, uncle, brother -- for virtually everything. She needs his permission to marry or to get divorced; to go abroad; to receive an education; even for something as banal as opening a bank account.

Not to go along with this is dangerous for a woman. In 2009, for example, a father had his daughter committed to a mental institution because, against his will, she wanted to marry someone from a different tribe. The system leads to some strange configurations – as Wajeha al-Huwaider, a divorced woman, says: “If I want to marry again, I’ll have to ask my son’s permission.”

As a fighter on her own, Samar Badawi has by now had a lot of experience of Saudi’s male-dominated world. She has been arrested, sued, thrown into jail. Her crime: as a divorced woman of 30, and a mother, she didn’t obey her father, who -- as an independent psychologist working for a family protection organization ascertained -- was a drug-addicted paranoid psychopath with 14 wives.

“My mother died of cancer when I was 13,” says Badawi. “My father beat me regularly, yelled at me all the time, once even threw me out of the house.” Even after marriage and motherhood, he was constantly trying to run her life.

Getting divorced was already no small matter, since in Saudi Arabia it’s seen as a sign of rebellion against the patriarchal structure. It also meant that she was forced to move back into her father’s house, where the verbal and physical abuse started all over again.
Locked up
Then came the day when she couldn’t stand it anymore. She took her child, went to a women’s shelter, and ended up suing her father. Badawi’s brother took her side, which is why she won the first court case. Her father appealed, and the second case was heard by a very conservative judge. Badawi was sent to prison.

Meanwhile, however, the case had won the attention of the international media. An Internet campaign was launched. The global campaign to free Badawi lasted for seven months, and in the end she was released and turned over to the care of an uncle.

“I went into jail a broken, wounded woman,” says Badawi. “But I emerged from it victorious, so proud of myself for having gotten through the ordeal. I had a lot of time to think about my father’s injustice, that dreadful judge, and of course my son – those were the times when I would weep.”
Samar Badawi’s fight is far from over. In fact, one could make the case that it’s just begun. For no sooner out of prison than she took up her next project: voting rights for Saudi women. She started last April, and a few months later King Abdullah announced that in 2015 women would be allowed to vote in local elections and that they would be eligible to sit in the Shura, the country’s Consultative Assembly.

It is not known to what extent Badawi's commitment to the cause played a role in this revolutionary development. It is, however, clear that Badawi doesn’t think it’s enough. She wants to be able to drive, and has applied for a license. She pesters the Jeddah authorities about it on a daily basis, and writes complaining letters to the Ministry of the Interior.

Her arguments aren’t very difficult to understand. “I’m a working mother, and I don’t have a chauffeur,” she says. “What is more dangerous: getting into the car of someone I don’t know or sitting behind the wheel of my own vehicle?”

Badawi no longer has to fight alone: many women support her, and have turned the battle for the right to drive into a campaign called “Women to drive.” They drive illegally, mainly at night, have themselves filmed doing so and then put the videos on the Internet. They risk legal trouble and punishment for this – driving women are sentenced to ten lashes.

Badawi has also driven, and has the support of her second husband Waleed Abu Alkhair, a Cambridge jurist and human rights activist. “Our laws are fine,” Badawi says. “What’s missing is legal awareness and women with self-confidence.” King Abdullah should be proud to have subjects like her.

Friday, March 9, 2012

International Women's Day: Celebrating Saudi Arabian Women

This International Women’s Day, a ForbesWoman post asked: “What Are We Celebrating, Anyway?” Well, perhaps it’s not a “what” but a “who” – Saudi Arabian women. Spearheaded by the Saudi women’s driving campaign, 2011 saw groundbreaking changes in regulations that allow women to work and participate in the Kingdom’s political bodies.Women2Drive
In the wake of the Arab spring’s internet presence, it should come as no surprise that Women2Drive, the hashtag which symbolized the Saudi women’s driving campaign on Facebook and Twitter, trended internationally last year. Its Facebook page currently has over 17,000 likes.
The slogan represents a movement which seeks to overturn the de facto ban on women driving in the Kingdom. Although there is no out-and-out law banning female drivers, licenses are not issued to women, even if they hold other international permits. Women risk sentences of fines, jail or floggings for driving.
Supporters of the Women2Drive campaign claim the ban is a costly restriction on Saudi women, forcing them to pay thousands of dollars a year for a driver.Saudi Billionaire Alwaleed: This End Of America Talk Is Baloney
The movement, which peaked with a series of women’s drives last June, drew worldwide attention to the issue. The repercussions for women drivers were far smaller than a similar 1990 campaign, when 47 women were arrested. Last year one activist, Mania al-Sharif, received 10 days in prison. Another driver, Shaima Jastaniah, was sentenced to 10 lashes, which was later overturned by Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah.
Abdullah has not yet indicated when women would be allowed to drive.Employment
New legislation means monumental changes in women’s opportunity for employment in Saudi, as women are now allowed to work as sales clerks in lingerie stores. Now, this may seem like a small change, but the move counts for more than just meaning women no longer have to discuss their bra sizes with men. Advocates consider it an important step for the increasing number of young women who want to enter the workplace.
A staggering 45.8% of Saudi females are unemployed, according to 2008 figures. The BBC reported the new law could create up to 40,000 jobs for ordinary Saudi women who have had little prior opportunity to work in a job market where employment is usually limited to the educated female elite.Politics
2011 was also a year of political improvement for Saudi women. King Abdullah announced that starting in 2015, women will have the right to stand and vote in future local elections. Women were barred from the Kingdom’s first municipal elections in 2005, but were promised permission to vote in the next round, scheduled for 2009. These elections were pushed back to 2011, when women were once again excluded. Abdullah’s decree comes as a welcome step in the right direction.
Abdullah also declared women would be able to join the consultative Shura council as full voting members. Women first joined the Shura council – an advisory board to the King – in 2006, when six women were appointed. That number has now increased to 12, and looks set to keep rising.
Whilst 2011 may have been a year of change for Saudi women, problems still persist. Saudi Arabia recently invoked international outrage when it declared it would not be bringing a women’s team to the London Olympics in 2012.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

In honor of International Women's Day on March 8, 2012, Amnesty International has issued a call for people around the world to voice their support for lifting the ban on Saudi women driving. They ask people to upload photos of themselves with signs of support onto Flickr. Here is the link for posting your photo.

A link to their press release is here and below, their video on YouTube.

The excerpt about Saudi women driving from their press release:
Drivers of change in Saudi Arabia

Due to Saudi Arabia’s male-controlled “guardianship” system, women are discriminated against and denied control over their own lives on a wide range of social, personal, and economic issues.

Perhaps one of the most unusual, yet pervasive, restrictions is a de facto ban on Saudi Arabian women driving in the country, even when they hold valid international driver’s licenses and freely drive elsewhere in the world.

Last year, women activists re-launched the campaign to protest against the ban called “Women2Drive”, which used social media to urge women with international driver’s licenses to take to the roads from 17 June 2011 onwards.

Scores of women participated in the action, with many arrested and forced to sign pledges never to drive again. At least one woman was tried and sentenced to 10 lashes for defying the ban.

Although Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah announced women would have the right to vote in municipal elections in 2015, the divisive driving ban has yet to be overturned.

Amnesty International sees the ban as symbolic of the many areas of life where women in the kingdom continue to have their human rights heavily restricted.

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About Me

I'm a freelance writer based in Maine. I lived in Saudi Arabia for many years. I studied Arabic in college eons ago and married my college sweetheart, a fellow Arabic student. My first novel, A CARAVAN OF BRIDES, is set in Saudi Arabia. I'm working on my second novel while writing feature stories about the Middle East. I am also the co-founder and Administrative Director of the Arabic Music Retreat.